Just yesterday I was trying to describe my friend's ex-wife to someone, and the only thing I could think of was "chav".

We need a word like that over here.

Does 'skank' not work for ya?

No. You can have chavs in both sexes, and chavs, while potentially indiscrimately promiscuous, are more about being stupid, violent and cheaply fashion-conscious while unashamedly sucking at the tit of the welfare state.

It's perfectly ordinary banter, Squiffy. Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how's-your-father; hairy blighter, dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie.

hubiestubert:Jay could place folks within 50 miles of where they were born, or at least lived during their childhood. An amazing ear for accent and dialect, he made it a regular exercise to speak to folks and infer where they'd come from within minutes, by their choice of words, their accent, and he was startlingly precise.

Thanks to having some training in linguistics, and having a Welsh father who travelled a great deal and was able to mimic regional accents, I have this skill to some degree. My particular variation is not only to figure out where you were born, but how long you've been "away" by the example of how much drift was audible in the accent.

I guessed recently that a 70 year old doctor who otherwise sounded very RP (BBC English, or "educated Londoner", more or less for the non-linguists), and who had spent 25 years as a doctor in Africa, was originally from Devon and had spent approximately 35 years or half his life based in Toronto.

The astonished answer was "Devon" and "36 years".

The hardest one ever was guessing that a fellow who had moved to South Africa in his late teens until 30, and then Canada, was actually from Tasmania, mainly because I've encountered perhaps five Tasmanians in my life. He sounded like a cat being sick on Steve Irwin. Yis.

It's a party trick, but a good one that earns me free pints. I credit being raised on Britcoms and nature documentaries for my good ear, although I can pull off separating a Chilean from an Argentinian if both are speaking English, can distinguish the six or so major Irish accents, and nailing most American regional dialects is pretty easy, unless it's something really out there like Gullah. I can't vocally replicate all the dialects myself, however: the dialect words trip me up, or "oop", or "ehp".

Just yesterday I was trying to describe my friend's ex-wife to someone, and the only thing I could think of was "chav".

We need a word like that over here.

Does 'skank' not work for ya?

No. You can have chavs in both sexes, and chavs, while potentially indiscrimately promiscuous, are more about being stupid, violent and cheaply fashion-conscious while unashamedly sucking at the tit of the welfare state.

"Now Rory knows that claret is imminent , but doesn't want to miss any of his game. So, calm as a coma, he picks up the fire extinguisher, walks right past the jam rolls who are ready for action, and plonks it outside the front door. He then goes back and orders an Aristotle of the most ping pong tiddly in the nuclear sub, and switches back to his footer. "That's farking it!" says the geezer. "That's farking what?" says Rory. He then gobs out a mouthful of booze, covering fatty. He then flicks a flaming match into his bird's nest, and the bastard's lit up like a leaking gas pipe. Unfazed, Rory turns back to his game. His team's won too. Four-nil."

Camus' Ghost:"Now Rory knows that claret is imminent , but doesn't want to miss any of his game. So, calm as a coma, he picks up the fire extinguisher, walks right past the jam rolls who are ready for action, and plonks it outside the front door. He then goes back and orders an Aristotle of the most ping pong tiddly in the nuclear sub, and switches back to his footer. "That's farking it!" says the geezer. "That's farking what?" says Rory. He then gobs out a mouthful of booze, covering fatty. He then flicks a flaming match into his bird's nest, and the bastard's lit up like a leaking gas pipe. Unfazed, Rory turns back to his game. His team's won too. Four-nil."

Whatever---- American living in Europe.... no one understands half the American slang I use. If I say I have to run, they think I am going jogging.

Actually 'spot on' sounds ridiculous with an American accent, due to how the 't' is pronounced.

Speaking of "Americanisms" I have been away long enough that I find the American way of overstating everything to be hilarious. Everything is spoken using extreme descriptors--- 'the meal was excellent' etc.... 'everything was great'.... 'it was the best ever'..... 'it is wonderful to see you again....' "I loved the cheese" "I hated the movie" "it was the worst ever...." "I was very disappointed that....."

It is a dramatic mockumentary with the odd funny moment. Overall it is extremely dark and depressing. They are horrid people living meaningless, horrible lives.

It's just a dark comedy... It's definitely comedy, just of the very uncomfortable sort that you don't know whether to cringe at or laugh at... (I usually do both...) Somehow, it just never feels wrong laughing at Michael Scott, and no matter how outrageous the shiat he pulls is, it never feels cringeworthy; but, David Brent on the other hand just makes you feel genuinely embarrased for the poor bastard, while still wanting to laugh at him... The same with Dwight vs. Gareth... I think it's just that the Brits are better at playing their humor straight and dry...

Hermione_Granger:Actually, I think is the solution to a problem as Americans don't mind speaking like Brits and generally think it's fun, whereas Brits go positively apeshiat over supposed "Americanisms".

Brits: Overreacting to shiat since 1773.

Meh, my boss is like that, but it isn't all that common - plenty of Americanisms come across all the time, most people don't care. To take a non-linguistic example, over 1.5 million pumpkins were sold for Halloween last year in the UK, growing 10%+ each year, from almost none a decade or two ago.

xria:Hermione_Granger: Actually, I think is the solution to a problem as Americans don't mind speaking like Brits and generally think it's fun, whereas Brits go positively apeshiat over supposed "Americanisms".

Brits: Overreacting to shiat since 1773.

Meh, my boss is like that, but it isn't all that common - plenty of Americanisms come across all the time, most people don't care. To take a non-linguistic example, over 1.5 million pumpkins were sold for Halloween last year in the UK, growing 10%+ each year, from almost none a decade or two ago.

To be fair, they were sort of offended by Americans differentiating our English since the days of Noah Webster...

I can't get the cap off!:RobSeace:The same with Dwight vs. Gareth... I think it's just that the Brits are better at playing their humor straight and dry...

I think it is because Dwight is actually supposed to be a good person who is misunderstood.

Gareth on the other hand comes off as an actual bigot. When he says that a gay man shouldn't be allowed around animals, it isn't a joke. He actually believes that.

and that's why it's funny.

Something I do notice is that folks aren't afraid to portray horrid people, with no redeeming qualities in comedies. I think sometimes, that actually seeing people espouse such nastiness, in an unrepentant way, can be good. Perhaps those on the borderline of shiathead who are watching, may just tip the other way.

xria:canisms come across all the time, most people don't care. To take a non-linguistic example, over 1.5 million pumpkins were sold for Halloween last year in the UK, growing 10%+ each year, from almost none a decade or two ago.

Some words, often the more formal ones, were once common on both sides of the Atlantic, but dropped out of American English usage while remaining popular in Britain, says Yagoda - amongst (instead of among), trousers (instead of pants), and fortnight (two weeks) are examples.

Yagoda has obviously never been to hillbilly country here in America. "Amongst", "trousers", and "fortnight" never dropped out of style.

xcv:Ambivalence: FirstNationalBastard: MaudlinMutantMollusk: FirstNationalBastard: See what happens when people start watching British dramas?

I blame Monty Python

Does British comedy transfer to the states as well as the drama does?

Sure, there's stuff like Python that's pretty much universal, but do other British comedies make it across as well? I mean, even The Office had to be Americanized.

/then dragged out for about 6 years too long, as is the American way.

It depends. Geeks like british comedy. Just look at IT Crowd, Doctor Who (it's funny), spacers.

Why haven't we gotten a remake of Doctor Who yet? Could connect to a whole new audience with Shia LaBeouf as the Doctor, Rihanna as a spunky, sorta-goth chick as his new companion and the wise-cracking TARDIS embodied by a holographic Dane Cook. Bonus cameo by Jack Black as every single Dalek.

cman:alienated: FirstNationalBastard: Does British comedy transfer to the states as well as the drama does?

Aye, it does. Check out- Shameless- not, not the US version, the real one. Ideal . Spaced . Red Dwarf. The IT crowd has been mentioned. Only Fools and Horses . Porridge might, but its early / mid 70's .Vicar of Dibley. Absolutely Fabulous .I could go on, but you get the point, i hope.Cheers

RED DWARF AND THE IT CROWD farkING RULES

British comedy is awesome. I would like to praise our English brethren for being some very funny farkers across the pond.

You should watch Coupling. It's like an adults only version of Friends and one of the funniest sitcoms I've ever seen.

kg2095:cman: alienated: FirstNationalBastard: Does British comedy transfer to the states as well as the drama does?

Aye, it does. Check out- Shameless- not, not the US version, the real one. Ideal . Spaced . Red Dwarf. The IT crowd has been mentioned. Only Fools and Horses . Porridge might, but its early / mid 70's .Vicar of Dibley. Absolutely Fabulous .I could go on, but you get the point, i hope.Cheers

RED DWARF AND THE IT CROWD farkING RULES

British comedy is awesome. I would like to praise our English brethren for being some very funny farkers across the pond.

You should watch Coupling. It's like an adults only version of Friends and one of the funniest sitcoms I've ever seen.

The Envoy:I can't get the cap off!: The British version of The Office is not a comedy.

Enormous, gigantic, unmitigated, unparalelled, stupendous FAIL.

Do tell.

The show is an examination of the futility of human existence. That doesn't exactly scream comedy, even if there were humorous moments.

I spent the entire second series waiting for David Brent's suicide, and given the tone of the show, the shoehorned-in happy ending given to us by the Christmas Special actually seems more likely to be the delusional product of his hypoxic brain as he is hanging from the ceiling of his old office.

brigid_fitch:Like people actually IN or even from the Manhattan area. I'm from Jersey City and, although I've (thankfully) lost 99% of that accent, I don't pronounce the t's in Manhattan or the 1st t in important. Nobody in my area does. You don't start to hear it until you get down by the Philly area.

Manhattan is a Native American word, probably from one of the Algonquin languages. Do the Brits think they own the proper pronunciation of Cuyahoga, Seattle, or Wampanoag?

Jersey is of course pronounced "Joisey". The one in England with the same spelling is pronounced differently.

The show is an examination of the futility of human existence. That doesn't exactly scream comedy, even if there were humorous moments.

I spent the entire second series waiting for David Brent's suicide, and given the tone of the show, the shoehorned-in happy ending given to us by the Christmas Special actually seems more likely to be the delusional product of his hypoxic brain as he is hanging from the ceiling of his old office.

That show was farking dark.

I'm sure you can explain how its being dark precludes it from being funny. It is black comedy and is acknowledged as being very, very funny.